GOOGLING AWAY TO GLORY! -NEW ZEALAND JOURNEY

We finally decided to go to New Zealand, having received the travel itinerary from my travel agent, I started to search for things to see, take, buy, and eat. There was so much information on the net that my head started spinning.

New Zealand is known in Māori as Aorearoa, meaning “long white cloud." It geographically comprises the North and South Islands with around 600 smaller islands. It is 1,500 km east of Australia across  the Tasman Sea and roughly 1,000 kms south of the Pacific Islands. Interestingly and fortunately, due to its remoteness, it was one of the last lands to be settled by humans.

During its long period of isolation, New Zealand developed a distinct biodiversity of animal, fungal, and plant life. The country's varied topography and its sharp mountain peaks, such as the Southern Alps, owe much to the tectonic uplifts of land and volcanic eruptions.

Between 1250 and 1300 CE, Polynesians were the first to come to New Zealand,Māori and they developed a distinctive Maori culture. In 1642, Dutch explorer Abel Tasman became the first European to sight New Zealand. In 1840, representatives of Britain and Maori chiefs signed the Treaty of Waitangi, which declared British sovereignty over the islands. In 1841, New Zealand became a colony within the British Empire and in 1907 it became a dominion

Majority of New Zealander’s population of 4.7 million is of European descent, indigenous Maori are the largest minority, followed by Asians and Pacific Islanders.New Zealand ‘s culture is mainly derived from Māori and early British settlers, with recent broadening arising from increased immigration. The official languages are English, Maori and New Zealand sign language,

New Zealand is a developed country and ranks highly in health, education, economic freedom and quality of life. Nationally, legislative authority is vested in an elected,unicameral parliament, while executive political power is exercised by Cabinet, led by  the Prime Minister, who is Jacinda Ardern. Queen Elizabeth II is the country’s head of state and is represented by a governor general, currently Dame Patsy Reddy. The term Reddy set me wondering as it is commonly used in South India, and I looked up, and her mother is Ms Kay Reddy.

New Zealand's capital city is Wellington, while its most populous city is Auckland.

We had decided to cover the entire country in one go as my friend Dr Shashi in Auckland had suggested; the economical side of mine kept cautioning me that I will not be able to go again and again to the same country, so finish it off in one trip saving money and the trouble of flying long hours.

Now I had the job of looking up how much money to take, to start with. Oh God! The country’s currency NZ dollar, was 48 Rs, almost 50 Rs; now middle class brains act funny at the very mention of money. At least mine started multiplying everything in New Zealand into 50 Rs. I calculated the cost of lunches we had to buy; luckily, the breakfasts and dinners were included in the tour expenses. I prepared an Excel sheet with my newfound knowledge of an online course.

My husband wanted us to take as little luggage as possible, though we were allowed 30 kgs each as check-in luggage and 7 kg maximum as hand luggage.

I somehow hate lugging around any luggage; I love to go travelling around with only a dainty handbag and a good book to read, which for me has been a distant dream till now because during travels my poor handbag stretches and stretches and becomes a repository for all our items till its seams bulge and the bag squeals out at me, saying it is going to burst.

Next on my list was the weather clothes as we fondly call them. Whenever we note that the weather in places we are going to visit is going to be cold as per the weather cautious prediction, we tend to fill our suitcases with all our woolens, which we never seem to wear during the trip, except carrying them on the shoulders or arms and once I conveniently managed to forget my newly purchased Pashmina shawl in a restaurant abroad.

Before the trip to Europe, we were told that it was the hottest summer, as it truly proved itself throughout the trip but when we landed up in Switzerland it turned very cold and in Lucerne it started raining and poor me, my teeth chattering with cold went up the mount Titlis armed with only one umbrella and my husband’s smouldering temper as I had ignored all his advices to include woollen wear in the luggage.I tried to remind him that rest of the Europe was so hot that half the people were dressed or undressed as per their heat tolerance but he refused to listen to reason.

So now, I decided to officially include very few dresses and managed to smuggle in some more whenever my husband was not looking because I could not imagine repeating dresses to specialty dinners mentioned in the itinerary, no way! cosmetics and medicines made the rest of the luggage, along with some of my books. I have the habit of reading and leaving them back for any more bookworms like me , except sometimes a few people who fall in love with the beautiful Indian damsels on the covers, ask me whether they should be reading the book from the back page to first one ,LOL !

Next on the list were the hotels where we were going to stay. I did a lot of reading of all hotel reviews and descriptions of places we were going to and prepared a folder and put it into a pen drive along with a copy of printouts. My material started to enormously increase, when we travel abroad, due to the weight restrictions; every gram counts so, I finally decided to take only the pen drive.